Submitted by Mike Smart

Objectives:

Content:
Students will...

• display a greater understanding of the movie-viewing habits in the US and Japan.

Cultural:
Students will...

• display a greater understanding of some of the differences in movie-viewing habits in the US and Japan.

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will...

• accurately use frequency constructions such as shuu go kai (five times a week)and tsuki ni kai (twice a month) to describe how often they perform certain activities.
• accurately use the following pattern to compare and contrast the US and Japanese Film Industries: Amerika ni wa (fact, habit) ga, Nihon ni wa, (fact, habit). (In the United States (fact, habit), but in Japan, (fact, habit).

Language: Content Compatible
Students will...

• soften disagreement with another student’s answer with the following phrase: Sore wa sou kamoshirenain desu ga... (That may be so, but…).
• accurately use aizuchi (support language) in reacting to student answers.

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will...

• work cooperatively in groups. Each member will carry out his/her role as assigned.

Time Frame:

One 50-minute class

Materials Needed:

• LCD projector, computer, PowerPoint program installed on computer
• L5 Japanese Movie Industry PowerPoint Presentation (see Attachments)
• L5 Japanese Movie Industry Question Sheet (see Attachments)
• L5 Japanese Movie Industry Vocabulary Sheet (see Attachments)

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Pre-task:
The teacher begins the lesson by asking students about their movie going habits. How often do they watch movies? How much do they pay? Do they like the theater they go to? The teacher explains that the class will view a PowerPoint presentation about the movie industry in Japan, and make some comparisons with that of the United States. The teacher then distributes a Japanese Film Industry Question Sheet and a Japanese Film Industry Vocabulary Sheet. The class is instructed to read the questions. Any confusion with the questions should be cleared up before the presentation begins.

During-task:
The teacher then gives a 15-minute presentation on Japanese Film Industry, using the PowerPoint as a base. The class records answers to their questions on the Question Sheet. After the presentation, the class goes can go over the answers in pairs, and then as a group.

Post-task:
Using the questions and answers as a base, the teacher leads a discussion on some of the differences between the US and Japanese film industries and their history. Following that, the teacher can extrapolate further to discuss how the student’s individual viewing habits represent or differ from the US averages.

Assessment:

Although it may be difficult to assess student performance while the teacher is giving the PowerPoint presentation, the instructor can get a good sense of student performance by monitoring the subsequent pair activity, by the class review and discussion, and by collecting the answer sheets for an informal review after the lesson is over.

References and Resources:

PowerPoint references included in PowerPoint presentation

Attachments:

NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)

L5 Japanese Movie Industry PowerPoint Presentation

L5 Japanese Movie Industry Question Sheet

L5 Japanese Movie Industry Vocabulary Sheet

A Lesson from the CoBaLTT Project
/cobaltt
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota